Purpose: Instructional leadership is a major part of the responsibility of principals who achieve promising results in school improvement. This paper aims to explore the inhibiting factors for instituting instructional leadership in elementary schools located in rural areas in Israel. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of this qualitative study were a diverse sample of 64 rural school principals. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis proceeded in a three-stage process that involved condensing, coding and categorizing. Findings: This study revealed that rural principals refrain from practicing instructional leadership because of two specific inhibiting factors--relationships within the community, which make it difficult for them to implement a school leadership policy that includes monitoring and control and characteristics of parents, who disagree with the instructional leadership's emphasis on learning and achievement. Originality/value: The findings of this reinforce argument that propose context as an under-used theoretical lens for understanding differences in principals' practices across different contexts.